Mars Terraforming Agency

Our goals:

Throughout: Elicit business and government financial and political support for
our agenda.
Phase One: Build and test watertight, submersible, mobile housing units
(seasteads) first in sheltered coastal waters, then on the Emperor Seamounts.
Construct and test heated airtight biodomes in Antarctica between 90 degrees
west and 150 degrees west and in the Transantarctic Mountains and the Taylor
Dry Valley. These tested domes and tents will be property of the Mars
Sovereignty, though scientific tests may be conducted with other nations, such as
USA, Russia, China, New Zealand, etc.
Phase Two: Construct a launch site and build modified rotary rockets to place
cargo in Earth orbit.
Phase Three: Construct and launch Earth docking port in geosynchronise high
orbit.
Phase Four: Construct and launch Mars return vehicle and robot mining
equipment to dig into the cliffs of Olympus Mons.
Launch further Mars return vehicles, ice mining robots, and construction robots
to build greenhouses.
Phase Five: Construct lunar shuttle docking port, and lunar shuttle.
Phase Six: Construct Martian Colony Ship, equipped with plants and other vital
necessities and send it to Mars. Colonists will occupy lava tubes and mined
tunnels beneath the cliffs of Olympus Mons.
Phase Seven: Fly lunar shuttle to the moon and construct an initial Marsport (a
spaceport from which to launch missions to Mars) at the southern lunar pole.
Establish permanent lunar colony in Shackleton Crater.
Phase Eight: Further Martian Colonists will dig underground and establish a
permanent base near the northern pole, mining water and materials necessary for
their survival.
Phase Nine: A permanent base will be established on the Martian moon Phobos,
and mining will begin there for materials needed on Mars.
Factories will be established on Mars to pump greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere in order to thicken it.
Materials from the asteroid belt will be mined to thicken the Martian
atmosphere.
Freighters will be sent to Venus to collect thick gases from it's atmosphere, the
sulfur filtered out for sale on Earth, the remainder taken to Mars to thicken the
atmosphere.

Mars atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide with traces of nitrogen, argon, oxygen,
carbon monoxide, neon, krypton, xenon, and water vapor. Mars atmosphere is only
1/100 as thick as that of Earth. Storms on Mars are often planetwide (because of lower
air density than on Earth; 1/50), with winds blowing over 150 mph. They sometimes last
for weeks. Material from the asteroid belt could be used to thicken the Martian
atmosphere. Ice from comets could be used to increase the water and oxygen content on
Mars. Alternatively, water could be transported to Mars from Jupiter's moon Europa.

Water is trapped in the polar ice caps, and in permafrost beneath the surface. Current
information suggests that water flows deep beneath the surface. This water can be
pumped and filtered of any possible biological agents and used by colonists. 2/3 of Mars
surface is rust red, which is desert-like terrain of limonite, dust, sand, and rocks.
Limonite is hydrous ferric oxide, used as iron ore, or yellow pigment. On Earth, the
mineral limonite is found in lakes and marshes as a slimy deposit, or in deserts as the
surface coating on rocks, or just plain rust. It is brick red in color, varying from a brown
to yellowish color. The other 1/3 of the surface are dark areas of gray-green or grey-blue
which changes over the seasons. Scientists believe this is the Martian surface being
covered and uncovered by sand storms. Some sand storms can blow at over 80 mph. If
we could release the oxygen from the iron oxide rocks on Mars, there would be more
oxygen in the atmosphere. Mars has pink clouds of dust, blue clouds of ice crystals, and
white clouds of water vapor. The surface of Mars is currently receiving 2000 times the
radiation Earth's surface receives. Forming an ozone layer 17 miles above the surface
would cut down most of the harmful radiation. Huge solar mirrors, and flat-plate solar
collectors can heat the surface of Mars, as well as nuclear plants, which give off a
tremendous amount of heat. These methods could be used to increase the low
temperature on Mars. Mars is much cooler than Earth because it has a larger surface
area relative to it's volume. Geothermal power plants release heat and gases into the
atmosphere. Geothermal energy can be produced by pumping water into the area of the
ground where there are hot rocks. Volcanoes on Mars would be an area where this
would be possible. Volcanoes could be blasted open on Mars to release gases to thicken
the atmosphere. Old lava tubes on Mars may be one of the best places for a colony.
Initially, the only domes on the surface should be for greenhouses and colonists should
live underground. Factories pumping greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane,
ozone, water vapor, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons) into the Martian atmosphere
would help heat the planet and thicken the atmosphere. This, in turn, would help thaw
out the permafrost and melt the polar caps, bringing water to the surface. With the
surface warmed, it radiates heat back into the atmosphere, further warming the planet.
Mars temperature, if raised by 50 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrnheit) would be -93
to +67 degrees Celsius (-167 to +120 Fahrnheit). As the carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere dwindles, plants can be established on the surface. They will convert much
of the remaining carbon dioxide into nutrient compounds and release oxygen as a waste
product.
When terraforming we must be careful not to add too much oxygen, as this would burn
plant cells, and too much added nitrogen would cause a runaway glaciation. Too much
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would cause a runaway greenhouse effect like that on
Venus. We want to temporarily cause a greenhouse effect on Mars in order to heat the
surface and thicken the atmosphere. Air can be taken from Venus to Mars, or separated
out into its compenents and taken to Mars. Venus' atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide
with small amounts of nitrogen and water vapor. Trace gases of argon, carbon
monoxide, neon, and sulfur dioxide also exist. The atmospheric pressure on Venus is
1,323 pounds per square inch (9,122 kilopascals). This is 90 times greater than the
atmospheric pressure on Earth, which is about 14.7 pounds per square inch (101
kilopascals). By comparison, Mars atmospheric pressure is 150 times less than Earth at .
098 pounds per square inch. Sulfur from the sulfur dioxide traces in the Venutian air
should be filtered out and sold on Earth. Otherwise, we will end up with sufuric acid
rain on Mars, which we want to avoid. If we separate out some of the carbon from the
Venutian air, the carbon can be sold on Earth, or used in industry on Mars. We would

need to separate two oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide and one oxygen atom from
carbon monoxide. The nitrogen and water vapor in the Venutian air should be sent
directly to Mars. Burning hydrogen gives off huge amounts of heat, and oxygen as a byproduct. Running an electric current through water also produces hydrogen and oxygen,
but it requires enormous amounts of electricity. Ammonia, which is three parts hydrogen
and one part nitrogen, can be taken from the atmosphere of Jupiter, separated into its
elements and the nitrogen used in the atmosphere of Mars. The Saturnian moon Titan is
not much smaller than Mars, and has an atmosphere of nitrogen 1 1/2 times denser than
Earth's atmosphere. Methane lakes and hydrocarbon snow exists there. These resources
could be used on Mars, and Titan itself could be terraformed in the future. Mosses, bluegreen algae, lichens, tundra grass and other small plants, then cactuses will probably be
the first vegetation outside greenhouses on Mars. These lifeforms could then be utilized
to begin converting the carbon dioxide to nitrogen and oxygen. Since Mars is currently
a desert habitat, desert plants and animals may be some of the first to dwell on the
surface once the environment is warmed, the oxygen/nitrogen content is sufficient, and
the plant life established. Some of the first animal life may be fish (provided lakes are
established prior to introduction), penguins, seals, and polar bears. Since the gravity of
Mars is less than that of Earth, these animals and plants will undoubtedly grow taller
than they do here.